Two years of ‘Bottom-Up’: What has Ruto’s economic agenda for Kenya achieved?

With Agriculture accounting for 54 per cent of Kenyan households' expenditures, President William Ruto is still banking on the fertilizer subsidy program to enhance food production and reduce the costs of food to the consumer.

According to the latest update from the Executive Office of the President, Government Delivery Unit, 6.15 million farmers have registered digitally for the provision of low-cost fertilizer, with the number of fertilizer bags distributed to farmers increasing by 7.2 million bags from 1.4 million in 2022 to 8.6 million by 2024.

Reduction in the cost of per bag of fertilizer has dropped by 58% from 6,000 shillings in 2022 to 2,500 in 2024.

Twenty-four million additional 50kg bags of maize from 61.74 million in 2022 to 85.7 million 50kg bags in 2023 representing a 38.9% rise in maize production.

According to the Government Delivery Unit, the subsidy program has lowered the prices of flour by an average of 39 shillings with the price of a 2kg packet of maize flour falling from an average of 169 shillings in 2022 to 130 in 2024, representing a 23.3% reduction.

However, the fake fertilizer scandal that saw former Agriculture Cabinet secretary Mithika Linturi investigated by a Parliamentary Committee remains a setback to President William Ruto's agricultural reforms.

The government states that it has so far distributed 556 metric tonnes of sunflower seeds to 34 counties, with further investment in seed multiplication and coconut cultivation, resulting in an 8.3% increase in acreage under sunflower farming from 60,000 acres in 2022 to 64, 980 acres in 2024.

But just like the fertilizer subsidy program, the edible Oil importation deal was embroiled in a multi-billion shillings importation scandal involving the Kenya National Trading Corporation.

In boosting the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises economy, the Government states that 21 County Industrial Development Centers have been set up and refurbished between 2022 and 2024.

And that, 19 county aggregation Industrial parks are under construction.

But with the cost of living still high, President William Ruto’s hands remain full two years down the line.